Railway lines are generally made of standard or high carbon steel as it is considered a durable and hard wearing material. In recent years, the carbon content of railway lines has increased for added durability, amongst other reasons, and is generally at about 0.8 and 1% carbon content. However, this increased carbon content has made it more difficult to successfully weld joins or joints between sections of railway line in applications where the newly welded joints must endure heavy axle loadings from trains and carriages laden with goods. Further, the addition of a small amount of chromium in some rail lines being manufactured has also made welding of rail lines more difficult as uneven welding joints have been observed.
The techniques for joining and rejoining sections of railway line have come under intense pressure in recent years as a result of rail failures sustained, in part, by heavy axle loadings, and concerns over the reliability of track repairs is being further compounded by such heavier loadings being exerted on railway lines.
As some railway lines endure extreme weather environments that can rapidly expand or compress lines along with heavy axle loadings, even these high carbon steel lines suffer the risk of cracking, buckling and joint failures from time to time. The consequences of track failure can lead to catastrophic derailments leading to loss of life and damage to property.
Therefore, the integrity of railway lines is considered to be essential for the safe carriage of persons and property across countries, and therefore the present invention is aimed at, inter alia, addressing these concerns.
It is a non-limiting object of the invention to provide an improved flash butt welding process for joining ends of a railway line which overcomes at least some of the abovementioned problems, or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
It is also a non-limiting object of the invention to provide vibration apparatus for carrying out the improved flash butt welding process for joining ends of a railway line which overcomes at least some of the abovementioned problems, or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.